Parking in LA is a struggle. It’s difficult. It’s frustrating. It’s...expensive. When I first moved here, reading the parking signs was probably the thing that I had the most trouble adjusting to - they’re so confusing! It occurred to me that by simplifying the signage the entire experience could be made more enjoyable.

The challenge lies in that creating a viable solution - one that is implementable - is limited by the scale of the city.

How can we simplify parking signage in LA without having to physically change all the parking signs?

Well, the first step in finding a solution is gathering data. However, the City of LA does not have a database of parking rules around the city. So, yes, that does mean that if you wanted to put up or change a parking sign on your street that you could do it and parking officials would most likely enforce it. Well...that’s a problem.

Can I Park Here? is a mobile web app that uses artificial intelligence to read parking signs and tell you if you can park there or not. It’s simple: you take a picture of a parking sign, and then it tells you whether you can park there or not.

The ultimate goal would be to further develop this tool and implement it so that a Parking Rules Database can be crowdsourced while, at the same time, making it easier and more enjoyable for people to park in Los Angeles.

Made for the UCLA DMA Senior Capstone Class